Houston News

Red Light Camera Fight Gets Nasty

The fight over the use of red light cameras in Sugar Land has been taken to a whole new level. One side has been making some serious allegations.

Those allegations are that the city of Sugar Land is working with the company that runs the red light cameras to quash a petition that would allow you to vote on whether or not they could be used.

Byron Schirmbeck of Baytown Red Light Camera Coalition told KTRH that, “They know every time voters get a chance they vote out the cameras. The camera company and the city lose millions of dollars in revenue. So they’ve enlisted the one guy that’s thought every red light camera petition in Texas.”

Schirmbeck is referring to Andy Taylor, who was involved in the red light camera dispute in the city of Houston. Schirmbeck and H.F. Van Der Grinten are making those claims and using emails as proof. Sugar Land Spokesman Doug Adolph told KTRH Schirmbeck has it wrong.

“We have done an extensive amount of legal research, including what other cities have done when they have received petitions regarding the red light camera program. We did retain in outside counsel that specializes in election law,” Adolph said.

But Adolph says quashing the petition was not the goal of their conversations with Taylor.

“Our goal was to determine how our contract with the camera company would be affected over this,” Adolph explained.

But Schirmbeck says that’s not true.

“It was a strategy session to try and decide how could reject the petition. This is what cities have started to do because every time the cameras come up for a vote, they wind up coming down,” Schirmbeck explained.

Sugar Land isn't the only place where a red light camera controversy is going on. Houston is still trying to collect 26 million dollars in unpaid red light camera fines even though the program was shut down a year ago.